Feed in Tariff, RHI, ECO Grants, Green Deal

Feed In Tariffs (FiT),  and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), and the Green Deal

The Feed In Tariff has now finished but PV & Wind can still a good investment providing you have a good site and high direct usage of the electricity produced.  The Marches Renewable Energy Grant is available for businesses, charities, NGOs, but not for domestic installations.

The RHI is available for anyone fitting a biomass boiler, heat pump or solar thermal system, it pays out quarterly over seven years for domestic or 20 years for commercial installations. To access the domestic scheme (individual dwellings only) you will need an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) that's under 2 years old and any accessible lofts or cavities will need to be insulated (or evidence provided as to why this cannot be done). This scheme is likely to close April 2021.

ECO is now focussed on affordable warmth for those on benefits, although local authorities can also put people forward for the scheme.

Unfortunately the Government has relaxed the ECO targets so the money available per tonne of carbon saved has made it not worth applying in most cases, however there is a separate ECHO scheme for those whose boilers are broken beyond repair, see http://www.epplus.org.uk/projects/echo-the-boiler-replacement-scheme/.

The Green Deal was meant to be the largest whole house retrofit programme in history, it has now been heavily downgraded, it is still technically available but only for replacement boilers. It was a Pay as You Save scheme (or loan), tied to your meter so technically it will not be a personal loan, it is particularly well suited to privately rented properties and Green Deal finance is accepted as one way for landlords to meet the Minimum Energy Requirement (MEES - see separate page)